Best skater of Kwan and Slutskaya era

Slutskaya

Kwan

neither, someone else

Who was the best skater of the Slutskaya/Kwan era. Was it Irina Slutskaya or Michelle Kwan. Kwan has the edge in World medals 9 to 6, but Irina has the big edge in Grand Prix final titles 4 to 1, and all those European titles while Kwan always bypassed Four Continents. Irina at the Olympics has a silver, bronze, and 5th vs Kwan who has a silver, bronze, and WD, so slightly better there too. I think Irina has more grand prix wins, and was a more regular participient. Both have a Goodwill Games. Irina was the much better technical skater and Kwan the better presentation skater.

I choose Kwan simply because her overall skating was stronger. Also the FCCs in Kwan's time was not considered an important event at all comparable to Europeans. Slutskaya does have more GPFs and GP wins, but Kwan has more world medals/titles, and had a better Olympics in 98 than Slutskaya had in 02 and 06.

3 extra World titles > 3 extra Grand Prix final titles. Had Irina won 1 of the 3 Worlds she lost to Michelle and it been 4 World titles to 3, or had she won the 2006 Olympics she would have a decent case. However as it is defnitely Michelle.

Plus her skating was more complete, rich, and polished, and she was more in the image of what people would like to see in ladies skating.

I am not sure it is fair to give Slutskaya the edge in Olympics when Kwan didn't compete in one of them. That season was not really a part of the Kwan/Slutskaya era as Kwan was done in 2005. So, IMO, Kwan edges out Slutskaya since when they were both competing Kwan got a silver and bronze whereas Slutskaya was 5th and a silver. Overall it is no contest, Kwan was a much better skater. You can prefer one over the other all you like but I don't think many skating experts would try and say Slutskaya was a better SKATER.

No, my vote only got them tied. How can Slutskaya be considered on par with Michelle???
Irina could do some great footwork on one foot that covered the whole length of the rink and she had really good speed but other than that, in what way was her skating better?
I mean, even when you compare their crossovers, MK should win hands down!!

They pushed each other from about 2000-2002 but prior to that Irina wasn't on Michelle's level. She was a podium threat but I don't believe she beat Michelle prior to that time. 2003/2004 Irina was gone and by the time she came back in 2005 Michelle was on her last leg.

Results aside, Michelle was a much more complete skater than Irina was. Irina was a fast powerful jumper with good (yet sloppy) spins but she never could match Michelle in terms of polish, presentation, artistry or consistency. Irina was the better GP skater during that span of time they went head to head but she was unable to sustain that level over the course of the season and often lost to Michelle at worlds.

4CC is a negligible competition when you talk about these two. 4CC didn't become a big deal until 2008 when the top world competitors started showing up...way after both Michelle and Irina had retired from the sport.

Irina was a great competitor but in terms of the better overall skater, there's no competition.

It is close but I chose the superior technical skater over the superior presentation skater, since while figure skating is both a sport and art, I believe it is a sport first and art second. Both technical and artistic abilities are important, and while Kwan has much inferior technical abilities to Irina, and Irina inferior artistic abilities to Michelle, both still are pretty good in both and combine both well. Although there are skaters even in very recent times who combine technical and artistic better than both- Yamaguchi, Asada, Kim, Kostner on a good day, possibly Ito.

I am not sure it is fair to give Slutskaya the edge in Olympics when Kwan didn't compete in one of them. That season was not really a part of the Kwan/Slutskaya era as Kwan was done in 2005. So, IMO, Kwan edges out Slutskaya since when they were both competing Kwan got a silver and bronze whereas Slutskaya was 5th and a silver. Overall it is no contest, Kwan was a much better skater. You can prefer one over the other all you like but I don't think many skating experts would try and say Slutskaya was a better SKATER.

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I am sure in the U.S there are almost no experts who would say that, just like in Russia probably almost all experts would be biased and say Slutskaya. What a neutral country expert would say I really dont know, but Eurosport commentators over the years which have no Russians are atleast as favorable in their praise of Irina as they are Michelle.

It is close but I chose the superior technical skater over the superior presentation skater, since while figure skating is both a sport and art, I believe it is a sport first and art second. Both technical and artistic abilities are important, and while Kwan has much inferior technical abilities to Irina, and Irina inferior artistic abilities to Michelle, both still are pretty good in both and combine both well. Although there are skaters even in very recent times who combine technical and artistic better than both- Yamaguchi, Asada, Kim, Kostner on a good day, possibly Ito.

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How was Kwan inferior technically to Slutskaya?

Likewise, how was Slutskaya inferior to Kwan artistically or presentation-wise?

Your statements seem like gross generalizations that are not fair to either skater or representative of their respective abilities.

IMO Slutskaya superior technically since she had much higher and more powerful jumps, a truer lutz, could do much harder jump combinations, had stronger spins, had as strong or stronger footwork, and skated with more speed and power.

Kwan stronger in presentation since she had much better lines, positions, more elegance, more grace, more style, more maturity and sophistication, and a more dainty quality. She also usually interpreted music better, although there are a few exceptions.

You say my comments are generalizations yet most have said including commentators and experts that Irina is the strongest technical skater of the Kwan field, and Kwan the strongest artistic skater of the Irina field, and one is stronger than the other in the other. How is it a generalization when I am only saying what everyone else has said. The debate to who is better is evaluating their careers and whether one feels the overall technical gap or overall presentation gap is more, but there doesnt seem any question which side each is stronger than the other in. Have you ever heard an expert say Kwan was the better technical skater or Irina the better presentation skater.

Repeating others' generalizations does not make them any less generalized and does not make them fact.

Irina rarely landed difficult jump combinations in competition. I believe Kwan landed more 3/3s in competition than Irina did in their respective careers. I'm sure both ladies could land difficult jump combinations in practice. In fact, I saw them both do that on a number of occasions (having attended several competitions over the years). Irina's jump landings often came to a standstill while Kwan had far more flow out of her jumps. Irina usually got more height than Kwan did on her jumps, but not always and not all jumps. These are just a few examples of specifics.

You're entitled to your opinion, usova94gold, but it would carry more weight if you pointed to specifics and backed up your opinion rather than regurgitated what others have said.

i could saya lot of things but michelle for me for winning the 5 worlds,

shouldnt count europeans since couldn't compete anyway. 4cc neither did sasha, sarah, . but in fact irina one with 3jumps shouldn't have but did.
during that time it was perceived if one won the gp final, the other skated well and won worlds. sometimes worked out sometimes didnt.

While Kwan wasn't as good as she was in the late '90s, she was still better (results-wise and skating-wise) than Slutskaya. Btw, when do you consider the Kwan and Slutskaya era to have started? 2000? 2002?

Slute could outjump and outspin Kwan, but could never attain the same level of quality and precision to her skating like Kwan did. She never had the same body awareness - Kwan almost always knew how her arms or legs (and most importantly, her back) should be positioned.